# Chapter 32: The True Enemy 9200
After an unknown amount of time had passed, Lisa finally arrived at the center of the Chronos Mountain Range, near the largest gathering place of Dragonmen, 'Iron Mountain City.'
This ancient city built within a valley had gained its name for unknown reasons, but now it had truly been forged into an iron-tight defensive line by the vigilant Dragonmen. It could be seen that all easily defensible positions around Iron Mountain City had been equipped with various simple fortresses and arrow towers. Thousands of Hunters formed small military units that patrolled around these defensive structures, ever watchful for possible approaching Demons and Wyverns.
On the fourth day after the disaster began, many Dragonmen were still pouring into this city from all directions, the vast majority being women and children. They were arranged to enter the city center, where a massive cave entrance led underground. Tens of thousands of Dragonmen had already entered to take refuge. Within the entire city, aside from Hunters and organized adult males, there were basically no other residents left.
When Lisa saw the valley her father had once described before her eyes, she suddenly realized she had reached her destination. She instinctively tightened her grip on the refuge entry permit in her hand, and her eyes couldn't help but redden.
But now was not the time for sorrow. Shaking off her spirits, Lisa stepped forward again and ran toward the valley entrance.
However, somewhat unexpectedly, a checkpoint had been set up at the valley entrance. Several long lines had formed, stretching in multiple rows. Some people were allowed entry, while others were rejected and sent to a temporary gathering point outside the valley.
"The shelter is almost full. The permits are useless now."
At that moment, a Hunter patrolling nearby passed by. He noticed a fellow Dragonman girl staring blankly at the queue of over a thousand people and kindly stopped to explain: "Although the elders of Iron Mountain City have been excavating the shelter and stockpiling food for many years, there are limits. For the survival of our Dragonman race, only the more outstanding individuals can enter first."
"What counts as more outstanding?"
Lisa asked subconsciously.
"Hunters, of course, followed by young Dragonmen who can Awaken, and children who haven't reached Awakening age. The families of Hunters also have priority."
This Hunter, clad in black leather armor, looked Lisa over and nodded with a smile: "Haven't you already Awakened? Your bloodline power is very strong, and you're still a child. You'll definitely be allowed in."
"...But what about those who can't get in?"
"...Some people always have to sacrifice. At times like this, you can't let emotions rule."
The patrolling Hunter sighed. He crouched down, patted Lisa on the shoulder, and urged: "Go quickly, little girl. Those great monsters could come at any moment. It's dangerous here."
With that, he turned and continued his task. After a moment of silence, the Dragonman girl joined the queue.
The line was long and growing longer. Almost no one made a sound, though occasionally a child's cry could be heard. The queue included both men and women, from middle-aged adults to infants in their mothers' arms. The only ones absent were the elderly. Lisa saw many old people who did not join the queue but voluntarily walked toward the gathering point outside the valley.
"At a life-or-death moment, they can remain this calm, with no troublemakers in the line. Your Dragonman race truly has an orderly nature."
The voice of the Flame Demon echoed in the girl's mind. Syndicate spoke with a rather emotional tone: "Although still primitive now, if given time, you should be able to grow into a thriving civilization... What a pity. This trial will be difficult to overcome."
Having said this, Syndicate couldn't help but shake his head. Recently, the celestial anomalies above the Chronos Mountain Range had become less frequent, but this didn't mean the battles between Legendary powerhouses had stopped—in fact, their fights had become even more intense and unrestrained. To prevent collateral damage from the shockwaves, everyone had moved far away from the Chronos World.
—Whether Demons or Five-Colored Dragons took over this world, the Dragonmen would have no chance to develop. The civilization represented by that golden flying vehicle was not necessarily benevolent either. Only if that lord, that lord who was willing to forgive even a Demon like me, won this war would the Dragonmen have any future.
There was actually another possibility: that the Dragonmen's Dragon God would triumph and drive out all external invaders. But Syndicate didn't hold much hope for this, given that if the situation truly deteriorated, the Demons and Five-Colored Dragons might join forces again.
While Lisa remained silent and Syndicate pondered the celestial situation, the long queue moved quickly. Before long, it was the Dragonman girl's turn.
"Child, place your hand on the crystal plate."
At the checkpoint, an old Dragonman elder protected by two fully armed Hunters said to Lisa with a gentle expression. The girl obediently placed her hand on the crystal plate, and immediately, a brilliant azure light burst forth, illuminating the entire checkpoint and even the surrounding area.
"So strong...!"
"Such pure bloodline power!"
"At such a young age, and already Awakened to this extent?!"
The surrounding Hunters and elders were all astonished. They had never seen such a pure and powerful bloodline reaction. Even the old Dragonman elder who had presided over countless bloodline tests was stunned, staring blankly at the crystal plate that was almost overflowing with light.
"Pure blood... a pure bloodline inheritor!"
The old elder's voice trembled slightly. He looked at Lisa with an extremely complex gaze, then quickly composed himself and said to the Hunters beside him: "Take this child to the underground shelter immediately. Arrange for her to enter the deepest level."
"Yes!"
The two Hunters responded and immediately led Lisa toward the underground entrance.
As Lisa's figure disappeared into the tunnel, the old elder's expression grew heavy. He turned to the other elders beside him and said in a low voice: "The prophecy is coming true."
"Indeed," another elder nodded solemnly. "That little girl looks like a pure blood, but logically speaking, she shouldn't have been able to Awaken at this age."
After a brief moment of emotion, one of the Hunters spoke with some confusion: "The earthquake three hundred years ago caused us to lose the most important method of pure blood Awakening. No matter how much we improved it later, even making it possible for those of us with impure bloodlines to Awaken, we still couldn't actively trigger Awakening in pure bloods."
"Yes, most pure bloods only occasionally self-Awaken a portion of their power when they're nearly adults. But even just that portion is very strong... That little girl Awakened so much bloodline power at such a young age. I think, with her talent, she might have the potential for one hundred percent Awakening."
Another elder nodded. As senior members of Iron Mountain City's Hunter team and city elders, they had been waiting here precisely to find a pure blood Awakener like Lisa.
"The prophecy says: When the Dragon God awakens from its slumber, the fire of doom shall descend again..."
The middle-aged Dragonman who had been observing first paused, then mused: "Now should be the so-called calamity of doom. Countless strange monsters have appeared from nowhere, celestial anomalies have occurred, and most Dragonman villages outside Iron Mountain City have been destroyed. This is enough to prove the prophecy is real."
"Then, the next sentence..."
Having said this, he fell silent. All the elders and Hunters in the camp remained quiet, for they had long known what the next sentence was.
—Only pure blood.
Only the holder of the purest bloodline could save the Dragonmen from this heaven-toppling disaster.
"This is the only pure blood we've found. We must meet this little girl."
On the other end, Lisa was led by the Hunter escort into the underground shelter.
The entrance to the shelter resembled a mine shaft. A huge opening was directly carved into the mountain wall. After entering, one could see a spacious road over twenty meters wide. On both sides of the road, fluorescent moss emitted light, providing illumination. The road sloped downward, seemingly without end. Newly arrived Dragonmen were continuously guided deeper by several Hunters.
After going several dozen meters deeper, two branching paths appeared on either side, leading into the distance. Voices came from the branching paths. Seeing Lisa's confused expression, the Hunter with a large scar on his throat—whose voice was somewhat hoarse—explained: "These are the two shelters on the first level. Going further down, there's a second level... Five levels of shelters in total. The stored food can sustain about twenty thousand people for about half a month."
Though it sounded unremarkable, for Dragonmen still in the era of primitive city-states and villages, this was an unimaginably massive project. Lisa couldn't help but feel deeply shocked. She murmured to herself: "A village has only four hundred people. Twenty thousand people means fifty villages..."
"Only fifty... There are nearly a thousand Dragonman villages throughout the entire mountain range."
The leading Hunter shook his head and fell silent. Lisa also walked forward in silence. They walked for a long time, even turning into a branching path at one point. In the dim light of the fluorescent moss, she was led into some unknown secret passage. Gradually, even Lisa sensed something was wrong: based on the speed of their travel, she should now be even deeper underground than the fifth-level shelter.
Where was this? What was this Dragonman leading her here for?
However, before the now somewhat wary Lisa could speak, the leading Hunter spoke first, his hoarse voice saying: "Don't worry. I mean you no harm. It's just that the elders want to see you, and they need a quiet, safe place."
With that, the two of them, plus one Flame Demon, arrived before a huge stone door. The still relatively young Hunter stepped forward, pressing his hand—which flickered with electric arcs—against the stone door. Instantly, lines resembling circuit boards appeared. After doing this, he turned to look at Lisa and sighed: "Don't be so wary... At a time like this, Dragonmen won't harm their own kin..." He glanced at the girl's height and chest, then shook his head again: "Don't overthink it... Just stay here. The elders will come to see you shortly."
Having said this, he turned back and disappeared into the light of the fluorescent moss, leaving the somewhat embarrassed Lisa standing before the gradually opening stone door.
"What's that supposed to mean... I'll grow taller! I'll get bigger too! Just like Mom!"
Lisa's face flushed slightly as she complained indignantly. The Flame Demon remained silent.
At the end of the day, Lisa was still a child. Even being led into a secret passage deep underground for no apparent reason, she didn't find it particularly strange. She simply followed instructions. The Flame Demon didn't stop her either; it had long known that once Lisa revealed her excessively powerful strength, she would inevitably attract the attention of the Dragonman leadership.
—Perhaps this is a special shelter for protecting particularly valuable talents?
Syndicate thought this guess was quite likely. After all, this place was even deeper than the fifth-level shelter, at least several hundred meters underground. Setting aside how the Dragonmen managed such an astonishingly massive project, at this depth, as long as earthquake-proofing was adequate, as long as Legendary powerhouses didn't directly clash above the shelter, this place would definitely be safe.
At least safer than anywhere on the surface.
Under the stimulation of the Hunter's bloodline power, the stone door had fully opened. The Flame Demon urged Lisa to enter quickly, and the Dragonman girl, curious about what lay inside, stepped in without hesitation.
However, as Lisa passed through the doorway, she noticed that this stone door didn't seem to be entirely made of stone... At a corner of the door, in a spot that seemed frequently bumped, a layer of rock had been worn away. Beneath the stone exterior, a layer of silver, unknown material was faintly visible.
It looked a bit like steel? But why would it be wrapped in rock? Lisa didn't think much about it and entered the door. What she saw next made that faint doubt completely fade away.
"It's murals! I've seen these before. The Great Elder used to love painting these in his room!"
What appeared before Lisa was a long underground corridor. On both sides of this spacious corridor, over ten meters wide, were countless clear murals—the entire corridor, though lacking any obvious light source, was surprisingly bright, as if the corridor itself was glowing.
Curious, Lisa found the beginning of the murals and started viewing them from the start. However, to the girl's slight disappointment, these murals didn't depict any scenes related to Dragonmen. Instead, they described the life of a different race, similar to Dragonmen yet vastly different.
At the beginning, it showed this strange creature living underwater. It was a race with a fish tail, lacking horns and legs, but otherwise identical to Dragonmen. They were purely aquatic beings, living by planting seaweed, raising shellfish, and herding fish. They gradually developed civilization underwater, communicating using some peculiar sound waves. Under the guidance of an unknown Sage, they even created writing.
"Strange, where would there be so much water... The biggest lake in the mountain range isn't this vast."
Lisa muttered to herself. She continued to the second mural. The Flame Demon initially paid little attention, but then it grew serious, sharing the girl's vision to examine the detailed murals one by one.
After creating language, this fish-tailed, human-bodied race progressed rapidly. They quickly sensed the free-floating energy in the water and comprehended the most basic magic. Using spells to control water currents and seabed sand, these Merfolk built villages and cities in calm deep-sea areas. They even learned to use crystal and metal to make tools. Using the heat from underwater volcanoes and vents, they first learned forging and refining, which immediately accelerated the race's development again.
They melted sand, extracted elements from it, and created some semi-transparent material that seemed very similar to the crystal plates used to test Dragonman bloodlines. By inscribing runes onto this semi-transparent—even completely transparent—material called glass, the Merfolk's progress in magical energy technology accelerated rapidly. Due to material advancements, huge underwater cities first appeared. As factions merged, nations were established. Powerful magical forces even allowed the Merfolk to tame sea monsters, making them a species without natural predators. Finally, these deep-sea-loving Merfolk rose to the surface for the first time, leaving their deep-sea homeland to reach above the waves.
They saw the sky, land, forests, beaches, birds flying in the sky, beasts walking on land... They saw an entirely new world. Using magic, the Merfolk transformed into forms capable of moving on land. This form made Lisa gasp softly—because aside from lacking a tail and horns, it was almost identical to Dragonmen!
But the girl had no time to marvel. She eagerly continued to the next mural: After reaching the surface, the Merfolk discovered that metal corroded unusually slowly on land. There were even many unique mineral veins on the surface that couldn't be found in the deep sea. Thus, the entire Merfolk civilization split into two parts: one in land colonies, one in huge underwater cities. But as time passed and civilization advanced, the vast majority of the Merfolk population came to the surface. Still, they preserved their love for the sea, for that was their homeland.
Lisa was just watching for entertainment, but Syndicate grew increasingly alarmed—the Dragonman girl couldn't actually understand the details in the murals, but this Greater Demon could. It could clearly see that within the second millennium of reaching the surface, the Merfolk civilization had already used their highly developed magical energy technology to create floating cities that could hover freely in the sky. A few hundred years later, they could already enter the Void!
From primitive underwater glass buildings, to corrosion-resistant deep-sea metal cities, to floating cities suspended in the sky by runic power... Anyone with basic common sense could recognize this as a peak-level high civilization of magical energy technology! And this civilization had countless connections to the current primitive Dragonmen!
The murals were already halfway through. Lisa remained absorbed in their content, but Syndicate noticed that the material of the surrounding corridor had changed significantly... The outermost door was stone. Then, as they went deeper, the corridor material gradually changed from stone to metal, and finally to the current crystal-like walls. Only someone as insensitive to such things as Lisa would have failed to notice.
—This isn't a shelter dug by Dragonmen at all... This is the ruin of some ancient civilization!
Realizing this, Syndicate suddenly felt that many things now made sense. After all, such a massive project as an underground shelter would be difficult even for Demons to accomplish. With the Dragonmen's limited population and strength, they simply couldn't complete this task.
But now wasn't the time to ponder these things. One Dragonman and one Flame Demon continued looking further.
At this point, the content of the murals changed dramatically.
The Merfolk civilization could now enter the Void. Their crystal spaceships could withstand the influence of temporal-spatial turbulence, slowly navigating the Multiverse. They attempted to explore many worlds but failed due to world rejection. Yet these optimistic beings never lost heart, always exploring the Void. This period was the golden age of the Merfolk. Countless individuals strived to journey far, leave their homeland, and explore unknown territories. Magical energy technology developed explosively. Void spaceships went through nine generations of replacement in just over a decade. Everything was moving toward glory.
Everything ended on that day.
The murals were nearing their end. Lisa and Syndicate both focused intently on their content. When the girl saw this next mural, she couldn't help but cry out in surprise: "Ah! It's, it's the Dragon God!"
"An Ancient Dragon!" the Flame Demon said gravely. "That's it!"
Appearing on the mural was a silver dragon roaming the Void. It had broad wings, and lightning crackled around its body. But this Ancient Dragon was clearly in a bad state—it had pursuers behind it. The mural didn't depict the pursuers' appearance in detail but used chaotic lines to sketch a layer of mysterious darkness... This darkness covered most of the Void, constantly chasing behind the silver dragon. The silver dragon sought help from the Merfolk civilization, and for some unknown reason, the Merfolk civilization decisively agreed.
Thus, war began.
This was an exceptionally brutal war. Under the assault of darkness coming from all corners of the Multiverse, both the silver dragon and the Merfolk civilization were forced to retreat step by step. They stopped exploring the outside world and focused on war-related technology research. Initially, the Merfolk civilization suffered a crushing defeat, but as time passed, they managed to fight the nameless darkness to a stalemate. The silver dragon's combat power was also unimaginably strong. Together, they actually managed to hold back the darkness's invasion.
However, the Merfolk civilization was ultimately too young. During a small-scale setback, they carelessly exposed the coordinates of their home world. The darkness naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. It audaciously invaded the Merfolk's home world and used immensely powerful destructive magic to destroy the world's ecological balance. But this dark power was also defeated by the enraged Merfolk civilization and the silver dragon working together.
Yet this was ultimately revenge, not victory... The world, whose ecological cycle had been completely destroyed, began violent crustal movements. The sea was swallowed by endless deep valleys opening in the surface. The entire world turned into a dead desert under volcanoes and ash. After paying a heavy price, the Merfolk civilization was powerless to maintain the world's continued existence under such conditions. The entire civilization and world gradually moved toward destruction.
Until the silver dragon descended upon the world, connecting itself to the entire land.
The final mural showed the dragon creating a huge mountain range in the vast desert that had once been the sea. It shared its bloodline with the last Merfolk, transforming them into the current Dragonmen, enabling them to live in a world where the ocean had disappeared. Then, the severely wounded dragon fell asleep in the desert, until the end of the mural.
"My god..."
Seeing this, both Lisa and Syndicate were shocked speechless. Neither of them could have imagined that the Dragonmen's origins were so twisted, so unbelievable.
The Flame Demon finally understood why Lisa always involuntarily sought the sea—a sea she had never seen and no one had ever described to her. It was because of true blood memory. Their entire race, just a few hundred years ago, had been beings living in the ocean. But the original ocean had evaporated into desert. The former cities had been crushed deep into the earth's crust by natural disasters, with ruins only visible several hundred meters beneath the mountain range, just like the underground corridor they were now in.
Just as Lisa blinked, unsure how to express her feelings, footsteps came from the other end of the corridor.
"Have you finished viewing them, Lisa?"
Approaching were the elders of Iron Mountain City. Leading them was the aged Dragonman who had conducted the bloodline test earlier. He looked at Lisa, who still couldn't hide her shock, with gentle eyes and said softly: "This is the origin of our Dragonmen... the origin of us Chronos people. To protect ourselves from the darkness among the stars, our ancestors made a pact with the Dragon God, joining forces to fight a common enemy."
"Those external invaders in the sky covet the Dragon God's power, but they don't know that they are not the Dragon God's true enemy... The darkness is coming. Before such a calamity of doom, everything else is just a joke."
The aged Dragonman raised his head. He extended his hand, and a sphere formed of azure electric arcs slowly materialized in his palm. He pressed this sphere into the mural. Instantly, both sides of the entire corridor, as well as the ceiling and floor, began to change dramatically. Under Lisa's astonished gaze, the delicate murals on the crystal walls completely disappeared, becoming transparent. The entire corridor, driven by some unknown force, began to deform drastically, finally turning into a square hall.
"This is, this was once the observation platform of the Chronos civilization for monitoring the Void. A city built of steel and crystal... That's how Iron Mountain City got its name."
As the aged Dragonman spoke, chaotic patterns like snowflakes began to appear throughout the crystal hall. But soon, the snowflakes dissipated, and a clear image appeared before Lisa's eyes—it was the scenery of the Chronos Mountain Range above ground! It even continuously focused, projecting its field of vision high into the sky, straight into the heavens!
This crystal hall could actually directly observe scenes in the Void!
Above the clouds, beyond the world, in the Void, heart-stopping energy flashes were wildly flickering. Within the temporal-spatial turbulence, the war between super lifeforms continued. Decaying, corrupted dim light could be seen piercing through runic barriers. Invisible ripples could be seen smoothing away frost invasions. A sun-like radiance stood at the center, unshaken by any attack. Several starlike points of light moved and flickered rapidly against the backdrop of the dark starry sky. They had been fighting for days, but for beings of this level, as long as vital points weren't damaged and energy sources weren't sealed, they could fight for tens of days, years, even centuries without issue.
An ordinary person would likely be drawn to this magnificent battle light. But Lisa keenly noticed that while all the super lifeforms were busy in chaotic combat, the surrounding stars were gradually dimming. At some point, the temporal-spatial turbulence had grown increasingly violent. The starlight emitted by the world grew weaker and weaker. It was as if a layer of black mist was spreading, enveloping the entire Void in its embrace.
Finally, a darkness that blotted out the stars suddenly manifested, swallowing all the previously fighting starlight points into its belly!
At this point, the starry sky was as black as ink, with no more light flickering as before.
"ROOOOOAR——————"
Above ground, an angry dragon roar came. The silver dragon raised its head, staring at the starry sky above. Its pupils seemed to burn with flames. The Ancient Dragon flapped its wings, riding lightning and magnetic fields, trying to fly into the sky to fight its ancient enemy. But just as it was about to fully take flight and break through the world barrier into the Void, a silver chain, seemingly made of metal, suddenly materialized from the air, pulling the Ancient Dragon back to the ground!
With the trembling of this chain, the entire Chronos World experienced a slight tremor. It wasn't a physical shaking but a wavering arising from within every living being's heart: as if, should that chain break, the entire world would be utterly doomed, with no possibility of recovery.
"Lisa?"
The aged Dragonman sighed. He turned to look at the Dragonman girl, who had been keeping her head down, silent. He said gently: "What's wrong with you?"
"Why... why don't I understand any of this..."
Having kept her head down since finishing the murals, seemingly lost in thought, Lisa murmured in a low voice. Suddenly, she raised her head and shouted loudly at the aged Dragonman: "Why are you telling me this? Why do I need to know all this?! I don't understand any of it! What Merfolk civilization, what Dragonmen's origins... the Dragon God fighting the darkness and all that—I don't understand any of it—why tell me? Why tell me only now?!"
"Why tell you?"
The aged Dragonman repeated this phrase, then smiled bitterly: "Because only you."
Then, the Dragonman elder council spoke in unison: "Only you can help the Dragon God cut that steel chain connecting it to the world."
"That is something only you, the one with the purest Dragon God blood, can accomplish!"
"ROOOOAR——————"
Above ground, in the center of the desert, the silver dragon was still trying to take flight. But no matter how many times it tried, bound by that silver chain, it still couldn't rise high into the sky and enter the Void.
The Ancient Dragon's eyes were full of fury and unwillingness. A purple-red light flickered deep within its dragon pupils. But it dared not break this chain, not even attempt to damage it.
Because that was the pact it had made hundreds of years ago with a civilization that had exhausted its entire race and world to help it.